Spanish parliament to extend rights to apes

Another step toward reintegrating ourselves with the rest of nature...


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Wed Jun 25, 2008 4:27pm EDT

By Martin Roberts

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's parliament voiced its support on Wednesday for the rights of great apes to life and freedom in what will apparently be the first time any national legislature has called for such rights for non-humans.

Parliament's environmental committee approved resolutions urging Spain to comply with the Great Apes Project, devised by scientists and philosophers who say our closest genetic relatives deserve rights hitherto limited to humans.

"This is a historic day in the struggle for animal rights and in defense of our evolutionary comrades, which will doubtless go down in the history of humanity," said Pedro Pozas, Spanish director of the Great Apes Project.

Spain may be better known abroad for bull-fighting than animal rights but the new measures are the latest move turning once-conservative Spain into a liberal trailblazer.

Spain did not legalize divorce until the 1980s, but Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist government has legalized gay marriage, reduced the influence of the Catholic Church in education and set up an Equality Ministry.

The new resolutions have cross-party or majority support and are expected to become law and the government is now committed to update the statute book within a year to outlaw harmful experiments on apes in Spain.

"We have no knowledge of great apes being used in experiments in Spain, but there is currently no law preventing that from happening," Pozas said.

Keeping apes for circuses, television commercials or filming will also be forbidden and breaking the new laws will become an offence under Spain's penal code.

Keeping an estimated 315 apes in Spanish zoos will not be illegal, but supporters of the bill say conditions will need to improve drastically in 70 percent of establishments to comply with the new law.

Philosophers Peter Singer and Paola Cavalieri founded the Great Ape Project in 1993, arguing that "non-human hominids" like chimpanzees, gorillas, orang-utans and bonobos should enjoy the right to life, freedom and not to be tortured.

(Reporting by Martin Roberts; Editing by Richard Williams)

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Vertical Farming

Advantages of Vertical Farming
Year-round crop production; 1 indoor acre is equivalent to 4-6 outdoor acres or more, depending upon the crop (e.g., strawberries: 1 indoor acre = 30 outdoor acres)
No weather-related crop failures due to droughts, floods, pests
All VF food is grown organically: no herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers
VF virtually eliminates agricultural runoff by recycling black water
VF returns farmland to nature, restoring ecosystem functions and services
VF greatly reduces the incidence of many infectious diseases that are acquired at the agricultural interface
VF converts black and gray water into potable water by collecting the water of
evapotranspiration
VF adds energy back to the grid via methane generation from composting non-edible
parts of plants and animals
VF dramatically reduces fossil fuel use (no tractors, plows, shipping.)
VF converts abandoned urban properties into food production centers
VF creates sustainable environments for urban centers
VF creates new employment opportunities
We cannot go to the moon, Mars, or beyond without first learning to farm indoors on
earth
VF may prove to be useful for integrating into refugee camps
VF offers the promise of measurable economic improvement for tropical and subtropical
LDCs. If this should prove to be the case, then VF may be a catalyst in helping to reduce or even reverse the population growth of LDCs as they adopt urban agriculture as a strategy for sustainable food production.
VF could reduce the incidence of armed conflict over natural resources, such as water
and land for agriculture

Maps of Americans' Ancestry

Pretty interesting.
Generally: pockets of German-, Mexican-, African-, Native-, and English- American.

If you think this map is interesting, go to the wiki site for a lot more maps and subtlety. (above)

bodies from the sensorimotor cortex perspective

Here are some good illustrations of our bodies from the brain's perspective.

a homunculus of the sensorimotor cortex's perspective.
(from a site with a lot of good anatomy illustrations http://universe-review.ca/R10-16-ANS.htm)

sensory and motor cortex
(from http://faculty.etsu.edu/currie/images/homunculus1.JPG)

Human ownership of the electromagnetic spectrum (for broadcasting)

By the way, the contrast with the previous frequency allocation, here's the human allocation of the electromagnetic spectrum (in the U.S.), which has been auctioned off.

Note that the frequencies around 700 MHz (specifically UHF TV channels 52 to 69) were recently auctioned off. The transition to digital TV means these frequencies are likely to be converted to use for wireless devices.

Here're a handy "citizen's guide" to ownership of the electromagnetic spectrum (in the U.S.)
http://www.newamerica.net/files/spectrum_front.pdf
http://www.newamerica.net/files/spectrum_back.pdf

Wild Soundscapes (sound wilderness)

People pollute ecosystems not just by changing the land (air, water, climate).
We also cause "sound pollution."

Machinery interferes with the natural distribution of frequencies animals have allocated amongst each other. (See picture.)

For example: low-flying military planes are probably interfering with the synchronization of calling spadefoot toads in Yosemite.
Here's an article by Bernie Kraus.
"The Meaning of Wild Soundscapes"
http://www.greenmuseum.org/generic_content.php?ct_id=181


Also, this site has links to some cool audio files (for audiophiles) of natural ecosystems around the world.
http://www.wildsanctuary.com/

"Paternal discrepancy"

There are a lot of kids being raised, unknowingly, by men who aren't actually the biological father.

Probably 5-10 percent.

Mate with a stud, rear with a workhorse.


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Paternity uncertainty revealed as 1 in 25

20 August 2005
From New Scientist Print Edition. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.

TO TELL or not to tell? That is the question doctors face when they accidentally discover that children are not biologically related to their supposed father.

A fresh review of the literature on "paternal discrepancy" -medico-speak for cuckoldry -estimates that as many as 1 in 25 children in developed countries may have been sired by someone other than the supposed father.

The review in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (vol 59, p 749) covers papers published between 1950 and 2004. In the light of the findings, Mark Bellis and his colleagues at Liverpool John Moores University, UK, have called for clear official guidance for GPs and health professionals on when and whether to disclose such explosive information.

Bellis says it is increasingly likely that such results will spill out by accident as genetic tests for predisposition to disease spread and through the increasing use of DNA evidence in courts.

Adding to the problem is the rise of commercial DNA testing to resolve paternity disputes. In the US alone, the number of such tests trebled annually to more than 300,000 between 1991 and 2001. Bellis says that companies offering the tests should be obliged to offer counselling and advice to customers.
From issue 2513 of New Scientist magazine, 20 August 2005, page 6

Women cheat more when their partners genes are similar

Women are more likely to cheat on their partners when they have more similar MHC genes (related to immune system).


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Don't pair up with matching genes

11:30 05 January 2007
NewScientist.com news service
Matt Kaplan

They say opposites attract – and a couple’s differences may be key to lasting happiness, according to a new genetic study of people in relationships. The findings were so predictive, that a DNA test could one day reveal how likely a woman is to cheat on her partner, the study suggests.

Psychologist Christine Garver-Apgar at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, US, and colleagues investigated whether genetic similarities among romantically involved couples predicted how faithful and sexually responsive the partners were to one another.

The team analysed specific genes belonging to the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) – a set of genes that control the tags used by the immune system to differentiate between pathogens and cells belonging to the body. Previous research has shown that the MHC plays a role in sexual attraction, but its lasting role in a long-term relationship has not been investigated.

“There have been a number of studies that tested whether MHC similarities played a role in attraction, some involving sweaty T-shirts that women were actually asked to smell,” says Garver-Apgar. “What we wanted to know was whether or not these discoveries had any implications for romantically involved couples.”
Cheating chance

Garver-Apgar and colleagues carried out a genetic analysis of 48 heterosexual couples who had been in an exclusive relationship for at least two years. And the participants were then asked a series of questions about their relationship, including their sexual responsiveness towards their partner and their unfaithfulness in the relationship.

The study revealed that as MHC genetic similarities increased, it was the women who were the most dramatically affected. They were less sexually responsive to their partners, more likely to have affairs, and more attracted to other males, particularly during fertile days of their menstrual cycles, Garver-Apgar says. In relationships where MHC genetic differences were significant, these potentially relationship-splitting behaviours were either absent or greatly reduced.

The fraction of MHC genes shared directly correlated to the woman's number of adulterous partners – if the man and woman had 50% of the MHC genes in common, the women had a 50% chance of cheating with another man, on average.
Chemical cocktail

Men were an entirely different matter, the study showed. They did not seem to be affected by genetics at all. As MHC similarities increased, men showed no change in the sexual interest that they had for their partners and seemed no more attracted to women outside of their primary relationship.

Garver-Apgar and her team suggest that the MHC targets human behaviours, essentially controlling sexual attraction, perhaps in order to help to produce offspring with a broad spectrum of immunity.

“We’re fairly certain that all of this revolves around scent,” she adds. “Now all we have to do is track down the specific chemical cocktail responsible for all the behaviours we are seeing.”

Journal reference: Psychological Science (vol 17, p 830)

The Smart is less fuel efficient that the Prius?

According to the EPA, fuel efficiency is lower than the 5-seat Toyota Prius, which achieves 48 city and 45 highway while the Smart achieves 33 city and 41 highway. Additionally, the larger Chevrolet Cobalt, with its 148 hp engine achieves a combined 31 MPG compared to the Smart's 36 combined MPG with its 71 hp engine.

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Forbes Article
http://www.forbes.com/2006/07/12/unsolicited-advice-advertising-meb_0712smart.html

Tiniest car in U.S. earns top marks in crash testing

8-foot, 8-inch Smart Fortwo 'good' in front, side impacts

Ken Thomas, Associated Press

Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Smart Fortwo undergoes a frontal offset crash test, in wh...

(05-14) 04:00 PDT Washington --

The 2008 Smart Fortwo micro car, the smallest car for sale in the U.S. market, has earned top scores in crash tests conducted by the insurance industry.

The 8-foot, 8-inch vehicle received the highest rating of "good" in front-end and side-impact testing by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, helping address some concerns that consumers may be more vulnerable in the tiny two-seater.

The test results, released today, show how well vehicles stack up against others of similar size and weight. The institute noted that the front-end test scores can't be compared across weight classes, meaning a small car that earns a good rating isn't considered safer than a large car that did not earn the highest rating.

Adrian Lund, the institute's president, said a small car may be more practical in congested urban areas where serious, high-speed crashes are less likely. The institute conducted the crash test to help guide consumers who want a small car that can give them good protection.

"All things being equal in safety, bigger and heavier is always better. But among the smallest cars, the engineers of the Smart did their homework and designed a high level of safety into a very small package," Lund said.

The institute's frontal-crash test simulates a 40 mph crash with a similar vehicle. The side crash simulates what would happen if the vehicle was struck in the side by a sport utility vehicle at 31 mph.

In a test that assessed the vehicle's protection in rear crashes, the Fortwo received the second-highest rating of acceptable.

Smart, a division of Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz brand, is arriving in U.S. showrooms this year as consumers deal with rising fuel prices. The automaker has received more than 30,000 reservations for the vehicle - which has a base price of more than $12,000 with destination charges included and more than $17,000 for a fully loaded Smart passion convertible. Customers are putting down $99 to reserve a car.

The vehicle, which had sold 6,159 units through the end of April, gets 33 miles per gallon in the city and 41 mpg on the highway. The Fortwo is more than 3 feet shorter and nearly 700 pounds lighter than a Mini Cooper.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/14/BU9U10LJLM.DTL

This article appeared on page C - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle